People increasingly use online communications to interact with their friends and to meet new people. As used herein, “online communications” means real-time online communications technologies, including character-based technologies (e.g., text-based instant messaging, but not e-mail), audio technologies (e.g., audio chat and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) telephony), and video technologies (e.g., video chat).
Numerous techniques have been developed that use online communications to improve our social lives, including social networking and online dating services. These techniques typically require a user to fill out a personal profile, which can be cumbersome and also raises privacy concerns. Thus, it would be highly desirable to find new, less cumbersome, more intuitive, and more secure ways to use online communications to interact with friends and to meet new people.